Ignition and Combustion of Liquid Fuel Droplets. Part I: Impact on Pollutant Formation

Abstract
The ignition process of liquid fuel droplets and its impact on the formation of soot and nitrogen oxides have been studied. The system studied consists of a laboratory flame maintained by a vertical, monosized liquid fuel droplet array surrounded by a laminar flow of a mixture of helium and oxygen. It was found that the formation of soot and nitrogen oxides closely correlates with the ignition of liquid fuel droplets. It has been shown that the soot formation can be suppressed by delaying ignition, and thus vaporizing as much fuel as possible prior to the ignition. But delaying ignition favors the conversion of fuel-bound nitrogen to nitric oxide. The control of the emission of both soot and nitrogen oxides can be achieved by use of low oxygen concentrations in the oxidation gas to delay ignition and suppress soot formation by using a high fuel/air ratio to reduce NOx.

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